Yui
by Shinvitya
Summary: Yui and Shinji switch roles. My second fic.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, it belongs to Gainax and Anno.

Yui

Chapter 1

* * *

"Due to the state of emergency, all lines wer…"

The person hung up the phone, not bothering to listen fully.

After all, she pretty much was aware of what was going on.

And Yui Ikari was in bad mood.

Standing in the deserted city, dressed in dark purple halter top and black miniskirt with the bag slung over shoulder, was a woman in her late 30's but who looked ten years younger, and she was definitely not happy about many possible reasons for why she was needed at NERV.

A few days earlier in Kyoto-2, going home after teaching at the University, she received a package from NERV, containing the authorization entry card, transportation arrangements to Tokyo-3 and last but certainly not least, the letter from HIM.

"Come" was the only word in a letter, and she imagined that that he wrote that while having that infuriating smirk on his face.

Later, when she calmed down after tearing the letter apart, she requested the leave from the university (because of urgent family matters, which is true in the sense) and set off to Tokyo-3.

And now here she is, late because of the mishaps in train schedules due to the emergency, and so is her escort it seems.

Among the arrangements was a picture of the black-haired woman in the military uniform: Katsuragi Misato, former captain of JSSFD and now the Chief in Tactical Section of NERV.

The only survivor of the Second Impact.

Yui knew Dr. Katsuragi before that ill-fated expedition, and remembered from reports that Misato remained mute for years after the event. Not long before she resigned from GEHIRN, she heard that Misato befriended Naoko's little girl, Ritsuko, and it seems that it cured her of muteness.

She wondered how Dr. Katsuragi would have thought about his girl joining the military, and then NERV.

All her musings were cut short when she sensed something, or rather someone.

Turning to her side, for a briefest of moments she though she saw a girl with blue hair and red eyes, but there was not a soul in there, just like in the rest of the city.

For the second time her musings were interrupted with the small quake and the sound of explosions in the distance. Looking at the nearby mountains, she already knew was going on.

Several combat VTOLs were rearing back, shooting their payloads at something out of her sight, when that something emerged from the mountains, something big, vaguely humanoid, and something that shrugged off tank-tearing weaponry like nobody's business.

Sachiel, the 3rd Angel, was massacring the JSSDF air force.

"So that's what you look like." said Yui.

One of struck down VTOL's crashed near her, reminding that the battlefield was getting uncomfortably close, but before she could move to safety the Angel stomped on the downed VTOL, making it explode.

Before the flames reached her, she was shielded by a blue car that just arrived, and in the driver's seat was Katsuragi Misato.

"Sorry for being late!" she said.

"Same here!" Yui said as she quickly got in the car, and they hurried away before they got hit in the crossfire.

* * *

Later, after surviving the N2 bomb and fixing the car by some shady means.

"Tell me what irritates you, Katsuragi-san." Said Yui.

Misato was surprised for the moment, then remembered with whose ex-wife she was driving with.

"With due respect Ikari-san, I should be back in NERV commanding our defenses against the angel, not being a chauffeur for a VIP". said Misato with a hint of anger in her voice.

Yui chuckled.

"Heh, if this is any comfort to you, that bastard will be sorry for summoning me." She said.

Misato looked puzzled for a moment.

"You don't get along?" she asked.

"Get along? Ha! The only reason we are not officially divorced is because of his influence in the government." stated Yui.

"Must be a pain having the family name of someone you hate."

Yui laughed.

Soon they arrived at the vehicle entrance, decorated with the NERV emblem.

"_God's In His Heaven, All's Right With The World_." Yui recited the message with bitterness.

"Unpleasant memories of this place?" Misato asked, having read the info on Yui yesterday, and knowing that she quit GEHIRN 11 years ago.

"That's putting it mildly" Yui answered.

They stayed silent for a while.

"Do you know a girl named Rei Ayanami?" Misato asked.

"No, should I?"

"No, just forget it."

And then the Geofront came into view.

Yui, despite her general displeasure with the place, was awed on how much it changed in these 11 years.

"Impressive, isn't it? This is humanity's best line of defense against the angels, its only hope for the future" Misato proudly stated.

"Heh, One way or another, this place will become a funeral pyre of the old humanity". Yui stated after getting her composure back.

Misato was not amused.

"Do you mean that we have no chance of winning?"

"No, it's possible, but the results will not be pretty".

Misato decided to drop it.

* * *

After getting lost.

"Wait!." Misato shouted after Yui..

"We're wasting time, let's go!" said Yui.

"But how would you know where to go?" asked Misato.

"Because from what I seen, this place's layout hasn't changed much in 11 years." Yui answered, going to the command center.

"At least someone knows her way around here." A female voice said.

Cue Ritsuko Akagi, in her normal attire.

"Captain Katsuragi, do you have any idea how much time and manpower you're wasting?"

"Sorry" said Misato nervously.

Ritsuko sighed and turned to Yui.

"You must be Ikari Yui." she said

Yui looked at Ritsuko, putting 2 and 2 together.

"And you must be Naoko's daughter" said Yui.

Ritsuko frowned a little at the mention of her mother, but quickly recovered.

"I'm flattered that you remembered me Ikari-san, but while I sure you want to meet your husband as soon as possible, we first must take a detour." said Ritsuko

"What detour?" asked Yui.

"I think you'll realize when we will get there." Answered Ritsuko.

And so after riding the elevator, another elevator and the boat they stood in the darkness.

Even without the lights, Yui knew what she was facing.

The lights turned on, and the face of EVA-01 stared back.

"So you improved my cursed masterpiece, didn't you?" said Yui, apparently to no one in particular.

"Exactly" said the voice from above.

Misato and Ritsuko sharply turned their heads upwards in surprise, while Yui calmly looked up.

Up there, behind the armored glass, stands Gendo Ikari with that damned smirk.

"It's been a long time, Yui."

Yui simply glared at him.

"We are launching." he said after a moment of silence.

"But sir, the EVA-00 is still in containment, and we don't have time to make it operational!" said Misato, but then realized "You are going to activate EVA-01?" she asked.

"Yes." answered Ritsuko.

"But it never worked before, and besides, Rei is in no condition to pilot." said Misato.

"We are confident that it will work this time, and the new pilot has just arrived" answered Ritsuko, turning to Yui.

Misato was dumbfounded.

"What the hell!?, aren't the children who were born after the Second Impact are the only ones who can pilot these things?" Misato asked in irritation.

Before Ritsuko could answer, Yui spoke.

"Gendo, I have three questions."

"I'm all ears, Yui."

"What happened to the pilots?".

"The First is injured, and the Second is still in Germany with her EVA due to circumstances beyond my control."

In other words, SEELE wanted no deviations from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"Why do you think my theory would work?"

"Because, I have faith in your work, Yui."

The theory in question that Yui formulated back when she worked in GEHIRN, in lay-man terms, was that mothers of the potential EVA pilots gained the ability to pilot EVAs thanks to their genetic code being influenced by the future pilot's fetus during pregnancy. Yui hoped that way the children won't have to suffer piloting the EVAs, and that they would find mothers who served in military. It was only because of fate's cruel of sense of humor that the mothers of potential pilots died one way or another before the theory could be tested properly.

"Here is the most important question: Why should I care?"

Everyone except Gendo stared at Yui in shock.

Misato was the first to regain composure "What do you mean, _Why should I care_?!"

Yui turned her head to look at Misato, wearing the expression that suggested that she was being asked the most stupid question in the world.

"Why? Why?! There was one reason I built the foundations of everything in here," said Yui spreading her arms, indicating the NERV as a whole "including this," said Yui, pointing at EVA-01.

Yui looked up again.

"And he took it away from me."

Misato stared.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Enough." said Gendo. "Yui, will you pilot the EVA?"

"No." deadpanned Yui.

At that moment Sachiel reached Tokyo-3 and started to wreck the city, the explosions felt even in the cages.

"The survival of Humanity is at stake here!" Ritsuko called on her.

Yui laughed as if she was told a funny joke.

"Humanity can rot for all I care."

Silence reigned.

Gendo was the first one to break it.

"Dr. Akagi, change the EVA-01's configuration back to Rei" ordered Gendo.

"Yes sir." acknowledged Ritsuko and got to work.

Misato, disgusted by Yui's behavior, just walked away.

Yui herself was just staring at 01.

"Heh… my dear, soon, we will be together." She whispered.

That's when she heard a door opening and the sound of wheels.

Turning her head left, she saw a medical staff pushing a gurney with someone on it. As it got closer, Yui got a closer look. On the gurney was a pale girl of 13 or 14 years old with blue hair and red eyes, clad in white plug suit, and had bandages all over her, particularly on her right eye. But those details were not what captured her attention (and everybody's else attention from currently present in the hangar for that matter, even Gendo, despite the fact that he knew the reason behind it) was that the girl greatly resembled her.

The medical staff stopped the gurney right at the center of the bridge, removed the IV and other medical equipment and left, and Rei tried to get up, slowed down by intense pain. And while she would be more concerned with getting into the EVA, she couldn't help but stare at Yui with her good eye, unknown feelings flowing inside her.

As for Yui, for some unknown for her reason, the blue-haired girl before her caused her to remember the feelings she hadn't felt for long 11 years.

That's when Sachiel unleashed a particularly powerful blast.

The force of explosion rocked the hangar, causing debris to fall from the ceiling. The rocking made Rei to fall from the gurney, but was caught by Yui, who was acting on long forgotten instincts, and quickly ran from the center of the bridge, where a number of large debris had fallen on the spot where Yui and Rei have been moments before.

Getting the adrenaline out of her system, Yui sat down on the bridge, putting Rei down as gently as she could, but the fast movements before caused her wound to open, and the resulting pain nearly making her faint, whimpering in agony. Yui saw several spots on the girl's body turn crimson, and she felt that blood was staining her in places where she held Rei close.

This sight influenced Yui's decision.

"Gendo, is the seat still opened?"

* * *

Yui was in the seat inside the entry plug, wearing A10 nerve clip, breathing LCL she hadn't breathed for a decade, listening to the technicians talking in familiar techno-babble, feeling herself as the EVA itself.

And she was thinking, asking herself why she felt that way for the girl she didn't knew anything about, why she has feelings like at all for anybody except her late Shinji, and why those feelings were enough to willingly put herself in the EVA she hated as much as Gendo himself.

In Central Dogma, everybody except Gendo and Fuyutsuki were surprised that the woman was able to make EVA-01, the "Oni", to work at all, on the first try, at 53% synchronization rate, something that even the Second Child can't boast about.

Misato, encouraged by these unexpected results, was hopeful that despite the woman's attitude, she will destroy the angel.

"EVA-01 Launch!"

But what happened shortly after proved that the creators of weapons were not the masters of said weapons, as a downed EVA-01 demonstrated with the tunnel in the right eye, courtesy of Sachiel's energy spike, acting as a bloody twin geyser.

Needless to say, things in Central Dogma were not calm.

* * *

She was in heaven

She was in the endless filed of flowers near the single sakura tree, breast-feading her baby boy.

Later, she was teaching her year-old son to eat by himself.

Later, she was teaching her 2 years old son to walk by himself.

And finally, she and her 3 years old son were playing together, running in the field of flowers without the care in the world.

Despite the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something, she was happy.

It was when she and her 4 years-old son were playing that something happened.

The clear blue skies turned red.

The sakura tree burned.

The whole field of flowers withered.

As she was protectively holding her son, a shadow grabbed her, forcing her to drop her son as she was levitated away from the boy, finally stopping near the burning tree, the shadow forcing her body to float. The boy was running towards her, pleading her not to leave him.

Then she felt a pressure on her left arm, and then it grew more and more, until her left arm was broken.

Her agony was suppressed by sheer terror as the same thing happened to her boy.

He fell on the dead flowers with his left arm broken, screaming in pain, crying for her help.

She was trying to break to free, to run to her boy, comfort him, heal him, take him away from this horrible place.

And then something hit her right eye. Something sharp. Several times.

And then her skull was pierced through.

The same thing happened to the boy.

Blood spraying from the both newly made orifices on his skull on the deceased flowers, screaming like he was burning in hell itself (as far as she was concerned, they were), and then falling silent.

She snapped.

She broke free, grabbing the startled shadow with her good arm, throwing it on the ground, and then punch, pound, hurt, maim, rend, massacre, slaughter, kill it, kill it, kill, kill it, kill, kill, kill it, kill it, kill, KILL IT!

When she was done, there was not much left of the shadow.

Ignoring the returning pain that was held back by rage-induced frenzy, she walked to where her son was, but at halfway her legs gave away, forcing herself to crawl the rest of the way.

As she cradled her son, who was miraculously still alive, the bright light filled the field.

* * *

When she came to, she was in the entry plug, in one piece, with Central Dogma trying to reach her in the back of her mind.

She was confused at first, but then she vaguely remembered brutalizing Sachiel into tiny little pieces, before the sore loser tried to take her with itself to hell by self-destruction.

She looked around the entry plug, until settling on the right part of the screen, which was of noticeably lower quality compared to the rest of the screens, due to the eye being destroyed and the back-up cameras not being able to reproduce the vision perfectly.

The image showed the nearby skyscraper, it's mirror-like windows showing the EVA-01's destroyed right eye.

Which was currently regenerating until it formed itself into the functional eye.

She stared. The eye stared back.

And then she started to laugh.

* * *

Author notes:

My second fic.

I was confused as to why the idea of changing Shinji's and Yui's roles is rare, the only fic that comes to the top of the head with that premise is Maternal Instinct by Katfum, sadly abandoned. This fic is partially based on that one.

The theory bit was used by someone before, but for the life of me I can't remember exactly by whom.

If something else is similar to someone's else ideas, it's coincidental.

If it was not obvious by now, the English language is not my native one.

Thanks to Cylon One for pointing out my mistakes.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, it belongs to Gainax and Anno.

Yui

Chapter 2

* * *

Yui Ikari was recently discharged from the hospital, waiting for her escort.

Or more accurately, waiting for her supervisor, so that they could directly keep an eye on her, as if the numerous eyes of Section 2 weren't enough.

Her actions during the angel battle bothered many people, to say at least, with the most worrying part being her link with the EVA.

When EVAs go crazy, its usually because of the EVAs themselves, their not fully understood biology messing up with the synchronization, often with some contamination trying to spread through the pilots' mind, as the recent EVA-00 activation failure showed (not the first time, and even the Second Child got her rare moments of EVA-02 going unstable during her training).

It was in reverse for Yui and EVA-01.

When the EVA reactivated after it was beaten by Sachiel with the very erratic synchro readings, it was assumed that it went Berserker. Except that the source of the anomaly was in theEntry Plug, not the EVA itself. To put it simple, Yui powered the Evangelion on her own, with unlimited power at that.

It didn't help that she was apparently conscious during that, screaming at the angel as she utterly annihilated it, and then was sadistically laughing as she was savoring the pain it felt before Sachiel decided that suicide was a better option.

After that she confined in the labs, strapped to the bed, sedated at all times, being analyzed, scanned and whatever else they did to her to find out what the hell caused that event, and why she was able to make EVA-01 work at the first place.

All results said the same thing: She 100% human, absolutely no angel-related abnormalities.

Ritsuko Akagi and her team tried many different ways, options, angles, equipment, theories, calculations to see if something was different, but the results were the same.

It all ended when Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki ordered stop it, because with Rei still getting treated there were no pilots, and Angels don't wait.

There were some rumors that Akagi wanted to find something that would get Yui out of the picture, since it was known that she was trying to seduce Gendo for many years and failing, and with his wife coming back, her chances were low. When Yui heard this, her reaction was "Like Mother, like Daughter".

So here she was, recently discharged, waiting for her escort, since the only other thing that she could do was to see Rei, but she was informed that Rei recovered enough to go home while Yui was sedated.

She heard footsteps and looked up to see Misato.

"It seems that we are stuck together lately." Yui chuckled a little.

"Lets just get this over this." Said Misato, still weary of the woman.

They soon came to the elevator. With Gendo inside.

The first time He and Yui were standing face-to-face.

He smirked, She glared and Misato wanted to be as far away from Ground Zero as possible.

Neither broke the eye contact. Until the doors started to close, when both Ikaris prevented the doors closing, Gendo stepping aside and Yui getting in, Misato following when Yui politely coughed.

During the ride, they continued their silent confrontation without looking at each other, staring at the floor counter, with Misato sweating in front of them (the Ikaris were at the back).

To say that she was grateful when she and Yui reached their floor was a major understatement.

* * *

A few weeks later, she was getting used to the routine.

Wake up, go to NERV, Synchro tests, in-EVA training, outside-EVA training, go home, go to bed.

She was living in what in the expensive apartment by Japanese standards (lots of space) located in the nice apartment complex.

The apartment was bare, Spartan in appearance, with only the essentials present. It suited Yui fine though, since she didn't particularly cared about decorating at the moment, and the old-style furniture back home in Kyoto-2 (that she could have transferred if she asked) would clash with the style anyway.

And it was, to certain Tactical Chief's chagrin (because of Yui's nihilistic attitude during the angel attack), right next door to Katsuragi's apartment, with the other next door being occupied by Section 2 and filled with surveillance equipment, for her safe and/or to spy on her. Though lately, thing between her and Katsuragi were less strained than before, probably as result of them getting used to each other as neighbors.

Drive to NERV (using her Porsche 911 she had transferred from Kyoto-2), and then subject herself to sync-tests, concentrating on improving her sync-rate and maintaining it under many conditions, all while memorizing locations of weapons depots, Umbilical cables, exits and entries and other tactical stuff.

Next was the simulation of her using the EVA, currently on the subject on how to use weapons,

how to handle them, how to field repair and maintain them and such, and most importantly how to shoot.

Currently she was just shooting at the single, unmoving target until it was automatic second-nature action on her part, both with auto-aiming and manual-aiming, and then later she will be shooting multiple and/or moving targets.

The training outside the EVA was mostly identical to that of inside of EVA, with addition of courses that would be too expensive to use in the EVA. Like hand-to-hand combat, taught by a certain Koichiro Ohta (everybody just called him Coach) who could beat anybody in both close and long range, despite having a crippled leg and damaged eye, claiming that guts and hard work was all that needed to win.

Oh, and considering that unlike other pilots there was no school in her schedule, since she was not a child, all the extra time for allocated to the extra training since unlike the other pilots, see needed to catch up a lot.

And on top of that there was a prescription she must take, to make sure she was in shape, making sure that she won't get down from flu and other stuff when she was needed at most.

Oh, and contraceptives, just in case.

After getting home, sore from the training, she could do nothing but drop on her bad, her body too tired to do anything else.

That's when she usually though of Rei, who was absent from training due to her injuries.

And many other things, like Complementation, Instrumentality, Third Impact and so on as she drifted to sleep.

* * *

She was in the EVA, wearing the purple plugsuit, waiting to be deployed as the NERV, as Fuyutsuki said, wasted taxpayers money on the 4th Angel, Shamshel.

While she didn't show it on her face, she certainly nervous, since the last time didn't exactly went smoothly. While she was waiting for the inevitable, she trying to remember her training, the locations of weapons caches, cables, everything.

Soon the permission was granted and she was launched.

Once on top, with the eva-sized rifle in her (EVA's) hands, she engaged her AT-Field, quickly exited the launch lift and turned around the corner, and saw the angel.

All her training flew out of her head as she fired on survival instinct, forgetting trigger control as the resulting smoke concealed the angel.

"Idiot, you just created the smokescreen for it!" warned Misato.

Feeling it rather than seeing, Yui ducked as a energy whip sliced above her, destroying the rifle that she released in the hurry.

With the smoke cleared, the angel stood there, completely unharmed thanks to its AT-Field.

Next to EVA, a building opened revealing another rifle, but Yui ignored that for the moment, focusing on the Angel, trying to calm herself. Thankfully, the Angel seemed to be toying with her, otherwise he would have followed up his attack.

The two giants stared at each other.

"What the hell are you waiting for!?" Misato called and just like in the movies, it was a start signal.

Yui picked the rifle moments before the Angel could destroy it with his whip, and she started to back away, dodging the whips and taking shots (now in controlled bursts) at the angels, who was shrugging them off thanks to the AT-Field.

After minutes of this, and seeing that this was getting nowhere, Misato ordered the hidden missile launchers to barrage on the angel, giving distraction for Yui to retreat.

"Long range won't work here, got any ideas?" Asked Yui, reloading her rifle.

"We're thinking about it." Answered Misato.

But suddenly, as Yui finished reloading, the whip had cut through the building she was taking cover behind, severing the cable powering the EVA.

And the EVA-01's arm.

Yui screamed as the severed arm landed on the side of the mountain, one part of her mind in pain, the other part reminding that it was not her arm that was cleaved off.

"Calm down and get out of there! There is nearby cable just south of you, go there." Misato ordered.

Yui ignored it, any semblance of rational part left her as she was starting to get pissed off at the angel.

Hardening her grip on the rifle (the severed one was the one that was reloading the rifle), she run through the streets, her mind clouded from pain and rage, towards Shamshel, dodging its whips on pure instinct.

When she at the distance when AT-Fields negated each other, she was stabbed through the stomach.

Yui ignored the pain, insignificant compared to pain in her arm, as she lifted her rifle at the angel's head (or the closest thing that could be called that) and started blasting at almost point black range.

The angel screamed in pain, bringing back his whips in erratic movement as he crashed down and was trashing around from the agony.

Yui discarded her empty rifle as she placed her foot on the angel to keep him from trashing, grabbed the progressive knife from her shoulder and stabbed the red core.

Soon the angel went silent, and EVA went out power.

Later, Yui was chewed out by Misato during the debriefing for that suicidal stunt, but Yui was in the state of mind to listen, as going down from the agonizing pain, anger and high adrenaline didn't do her body any favors.

"...Go to the lot, I'll ride you home." Said Misato, seeing the tired state of the woman and the fact that this debriefing was going nowhere.

After that Misato left to chew out the pair of boys, that were really lucky to be not squashed by the giant severed hand, for leaving the shelter.

* * *

Later that evening, on the roof of the apartment complex.

Yui sat there, apparently looking over the scenery of Tokyo-3, but in reality looking at nothing.

Until the can of Yebisu entered her vision.

Looking up at the Captain, she thanked her and took the beer, Misato sitting beside her.

There was a silence for a while, then Misato spoke

"Sorry about the debriefing." She apologized.

"I had it coming." Yui reminded her.

"It's not that, it's just that not every soldier can overcome the shock of losing a limb, not mention a civilian like yourself. I'd know, I hadn't raised myself to my position on deskjob alone." She explained.

Yui sighed, not in the mood to argue "Okay then, apology accepted." She said.

They silently continued to drink beer.

* * *

Some time later at the remains of Shamshel.

The scientists and workers led by Ritsuko, all wearing safety gear, examined the giant corpse, their efforts fruitless as they were simply unable to discover anything that would help them in their struggle against the Angels.

Meanwhile, Yui and Misato were inspecting what was left of the core.

"Do you know what is this?" Yui asked a rhetorical question.

Misato nodded, since it was her father that was a mind behind the S2 engine theory, and hanging before her was the angel equivalent of it. The testing of that theory was probably one of the main reasons behind Adam's awakening, and consequently the Second Impact.

Their thoughts were interrupted by a series of footsteps and they looked back, seeing both Commanders coming their way.

After brief greetings (mostly from Misato and Fuyutsuki), they inspected the core, Gendo taking his gloves off to touch it, revealing the burns on his hands.

Yui noticed them, and she heard the story behind them when she asking about Rei, how he burned his hands on the overheated Entry Plug trying to open in and to get her out.

When he was done with the core, he turned to Yui.

"You could have left more of it." He said, slightly amused, meaning the remains of the core which she stabbed when she was fighting the Angel.

"Or a big nice stadium-sized bloodstain on the pavement." Said Yui, not amused.

He just smirked and ordered the core to be moved to Germany and torch everything else.

* * *

Many things irritated Yui lately, with Gendo behind most of them.

But what really irritated her lately is that she had no time whatsoever to meet Rei Ayanami.

A strange blue-haired, red-eyed girl that looked remarkably like her.

In the past month, the only things that she could find out about the girl was that absolutely nothing was known about her, expect that she was quiet, suffered a accident with EVA-00, and her guardian was Gendo himself.

That brought some possible (and uncomfortable) conclusions in her head:

1) She was a replacement for Shinji (Rei was a girl's name that she and Gendo had decided on when she was pregnant).

2) She was a replacement for herself (She did looked like her).

3) She was raised to be a pilot and only to be a pilot.

There was more, but these were the main ones.

Setting those aside, the issue of finding time to meet her was solving by itself, since Rei had fully recovered, and will be resuming her duty, starting with the re-activation of EVA-00.

What she didn't expect is that Misato (still in hangover) has given her Rei's ID card, saying that she forgot to give her and she was to busy deliver it herself.

When she got to the specified address, she honestly though that there was some mistake.

This was a old part of Tokyo-3, old cracked roads, old crumbling buildings, polluted air, noisy industry nearby, high crime rates and generally a perfect presentation of urban decay. Surely someone who was favored by Gendo won't live here, wouldn't they?

As she stood before Rei's apartment (thankfully her surveillance also watches after her car, so is not worried about carjackers), using the doorbell (which apparently was out of order) and then knocked, but no one answered.

Thinking that Rei was not home, she was about to leave when she noticed that the door was slightly ajar. She grabbed a handle and slightly opened the door, noting that it was dark inside, and that the lock was not working, something that just invited trouble in these parts, even when you have Section 2 watch on you 24/7.

"Ayanmai-Kun! It's Ikari Yui, may I come in?" she called, nobody answered.

She stepped inside, eyes adjusting to the darkness, she saw that the things were bad on inside as they were on the outside, with both dirt and grime on the floor and walls.

She stepped into what see assumed was Rei's room. Nothing much here, just a bed, a table, a drawer, a small mirror on the wall, a mini-refrigerator with some medications on it.

And lots of stained, discarded bandages everywhere.

'And he let her live here?' though Yui.

Something caught her eye on the drawer. Walking to it, she found a pair of glasses in the case. Picking them up, she saw that the lenses were cracked.

She put a little pressure on them when she realized that they looked absolutely identical to the pair that she gave Gendo many years ago.

She heard a door opening behind her, and she turned to look back.

There, wet and naked (not counting the slippers) with the towel in her hands, stands Rei Ayanami, confused at the presence of Yui in her home.

Yui Ikari and Rei Ayanami met for the second time in a month.

For the moment they just stood there, staring at each other, remembering what they felt a month ago in the EVA cage.

The moment was broken when Rei looked down, spotting the glasses in Yui's hands, not exactly holding them caringly. She then walked, nearly running, towards her and forcefully took the glasses from Yui.

She was about to put them the case when she stopped, unfamiliar feeling washing over.

Awkward silence followed, which was broken by Rei as she identified the feeling:

Guilt.

"I.. I apologize for.. what I just did." Said Rei, less composed that she usually is.

"You don't need to." Yui said.

Another awkward silence.

"Ikari-san, Why are you here?" Rei asked.

"Ah, I nearly forgot." Said Yui, digging in her pockets and getting Rei's card. "I'm here to give you this, the one you carrying is about to expire."

"Oh." Said Rei, taking the card and putting it on the table.

Silence.

"…"

"…"

"Get dressed, I'll be waiting for at the door." Said Yui walking away.

For some reason feeling embarrassed, Rei put the glasses in the case and stared dressing.

* * *

Yui was driving in her Porsche, with Rei at the passenger seat.

And neither of them said a word since the beginning of the ride.

"Aren't you afraid?" asked Yui, desperate for any kind of conversation with the girl she wanted to meet for the better part of the month.

"Of what?" Rei softly asked.

"Of the Re-Activation" Yui elaborated.

Rei sat silent for a while.

"I have faith in Commnader's work" she answered.

Yui didn't sat anything.

"Aren't you the Commander's wife." Asked Rei.

"Ex-wife." Harshly corrected Yui.

A little surprised at the hint of anger in Yui's voice, she withheld her question about her faith in

Commander. Besides, that tone of that correction already answered it.

Normally, she would be angry at people bad-mouthing Commander, but for some reason she couldn't stay angry at Yui. That and the fact that Yui's opinion of Commander had more weight since she was probably the person who knew Gendo the most.

They stayed silent for the rest of the way.

* * *

Rei sat in the entry-plug of EVA-00, preparing for re-activation.

While the people at the control center were adjusting, tuning and configuration, her mind drifted away to the person who occupied her thoughts for the last month.

Yui Ikari.

When the 3rd angel was attacking, when she saw her for the first time, the thoughts of the EVA, the angel, the Commander simply disappeared, only focusing on the woman before her, who was staring at her with confusion… and longing?

That was interrupted as the cages shook and she started to fall from the gurney, but she was caught and delivered to safety. She didn't saw who did it, to distracted by pain to open the eyes, but she just knew it was her, holding her close. It made her… happy?

After that, when she was recovering, the Commander visited her, cheking about my condition.

"Commander, who was she?" asked Rei.

Gendo stood silent for while, and then he answered.

"She is my light" and he said nothing more.

When she recovered enough to walk on her own, she visited the labs when Yui was locked in (she had a very high clearance level) and just stared at her face for hours through the dividing window.

After Yui was discharged from the Hospital, circumstances made the contact impossible.

Until she came to her home.

And now here she is, in her EVA, asking herself a question she was too afraid to ask from Yui..

Why she was making her feel like this?

"Rei, are you alright? Your readings are a little erratic here." Ritsuko asked.

Calming herself, she responds "No, I'm fine."

After that, the reactivation went without the hitch.

Unless you count Ramiel, the 5th Angel.

* * *

Yui woke up and she was wondering why she was staring at the hospital ceiling.

Suddenly remembering, she sat on the bed and checked her chest.

There was a noticeable tan. She sighed, and wondered why they were still alive, since Rei cannot beat that Angel in that uncompleted of hers.

The door opened, and she hastily covered up herself from flashing anybody, looking up at the intruder.

It was Rei, pushing the tray with various dishes.

"You're awake" She said, with the very small hint of relief.

"What happened, is a angel dead?" asked Yui.

"No, the angel is currently digging through the armored plates to reach the Geofront, it is expected to breach the final plate at around midnight." Rei answered, and then she opened the notebook and recited the plan schedule.

After she finished, she picked up the sealed plugsuit from the tray and placed it on the bed.

Yui sighed at the situation, and started to put the plugsuit on.

"You should eat," said Rei.

"I don't have a appetite." Said Yui

"But…" Rei began, but was silenced by the finger on her lips.

"Relax, when this is over, I'm treating you to the fanciest restaurant in the city, deal?" said Yui.

Rei was silent for the while.

"But the nutrients that you will consume now will help you in the battle." said Rei.

Yui stared.

And then laughed.

* * *

A hour before Operation Yashima starts.

Yui and Rei were sitting beside their respective EVAs.

Silence, this time somewhat comfortable.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?" asked Yui.

"No. Why?"

"Because this angel is much more powerful than the previous ones, there is chance that we will die." Said Yui.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you, Ikari-san." said Rei,

"Ayanami-kun, isn't supposed to be another way around, with the dying adults protecting the young generation from the horrors of war?" asked Yui.

Rei stated silent.

"Probably" said Rei.

Silence.

They remained like this for some time, until Yui noticed that Rei was shaking slightly.

She stood up, walked to Rei's side, sat down and hugged the girl.

The surprised girl didn't have a chance to ask a question when Yui said:

"I don't' know if this is just a cold, or if you're actually nervous, but I'm here."

Rei was stiff at first, but she eventually relaxed.

And then the signal was sent to get to positions.

Rei freed herself from Yui's hug and then walked to her entry-plug.

"Good-bye" said Rei, giving Yui one last look.

* * *

The first (unconscious) conclusion that came to her mind was that she was dead.

This was dropped as she remembered that actually dying, while somehow very similar to her current state, felt quite different. That and the many factors associated with waking up in the new body were absent.

Maybe she was so fried by Ramiel's beam that her mind was severed from the nervous system (and thus pain) and she was probably dying in the entry plug, most of the body scorched (mentally at least, since her sync-rate wasn't high enough to let her EVA's burns transfer to her).

She didn't care, though. They got the Angel, and she was replaceable, any memory loss (aka the stuff Commander didn't want in Rei's head) covered by head trauma. And of course, this place.

This place of comfortable nothingness, where there was nothing here. No NERV, no school, no Evas, no Angels, nobody.

Nothing but her and this strange warm feeling surrounding her, embracing her.

She wanted it to last forever, but she probably will die and then wake up as a third soon.

She was in peace.

When she came to (and forgetting most of above), her still blurry mind noted several things:

1) She was outside of the entry plug, the fresh air and no smell of blood filled her nostrils.

2) Her head was laid against something very soft.

"Had a nice nap?"

Her mind finally clearing up, she saw two EVAs in the distance, one holding the Entry-plug.

And then she looked up. And she saw a very rare sight.

Yui was smiling.

Not the haughty, arrogant and sarcastic smile she usually gives, but the genuine, kind smile.

Rei was mesmerized and she blushed a little, which became stronger with the combination of the kind eyes and hands that caressed her head, and she looked away from embarrassment.

Which resulted in several conclusions:

1) Yui was resting with her back against the tree.

2) Yui was holding her close, making her rest against her.

3) The "something very soft" earlier that her head was laid against is pair of large, soft breasts.

One part of her was embarrassed to death and wanted to get off, while the other part of her wanted to stay like a little longer.

Confused to what to do, she simply asked.

"What happened?"

"I got you out from the entry plug." Yui answered, and she looked down at her hands.

"Ikari-san, your hands…" said Rei with worry in her voice.

"Don't worry, the plugsuit protected me from the worst." said Yui.

With that she simply held her tight,

Being in the comfortable embrace, not wanting this end, Rei was still conflicted.

"I sorry, I don't how to act in these situations." Said Rei, burying her head between Yui's breasts.

Yui chuckled.

"Just smile."

Rei looked up at her, not knowing what to say.

The sounds of the VTOLs were approaching.

"Heh, time to go home, I guess." And with that, she stood up, lifting Rei up and holding her bridal style.

Rei, surprised to be carried like this, had sudden urge just to put her head on Yui's shoulder.

And she smiled a little.

* * *

A few days later at Katsuragi's apartment

"Do you know what gotten into her." Misato asked her pet penguin, Pen-Pen.

"Wark." He had no idea, just as confused as her at the state of their apartment.

It was clean.

Just this morning, Yui came in, inspecting the apartment. When Misato asked what was going on, she just got to cleaning up the house, and finished in the hour.

Which was impressive, since it was the absolute disaster of the apartment, with empty bear cans, empty wine bottles, empty vodka bottles, all kinds of empty bottles, empty instant-food packages, empty pizza boxes and god knows what else were sprayed across every available spot in this place.

After she was done, Yui said instructed them to not mess up while she was gone.

That was at least a half a hour ago.

They heard the front door opened, and they came to the hallway.

And they saw something strange.

Yui was standing in the hallway, and outside standing before the apartment was Rei, looking unsure.

This continued for the while, and then Rei stepped in.

"I.. I'm home" said Rei,

"Weclome home" said Yui, closing the door behind and tossing the shopping bag she carrying towards Misato.

"What's going on?" asked Misato after catching the bag.

"Why, we're celebrating." Yui said as it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Huh, celebrating what?" asked Misato, somewhat knowing the answer.

"The homecoming of your two new room mates, of course." Yui said.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, it belongs to Gainax and Anno.

Yui

Chapter 3

* * *

Rei Ayanami was currently at school at the last class of the day, studying history.

Or more accurately, slacking off by looking at the scenery behind the window, not paying attention to the history teacher and his lecture about Post-Second Impact History, which everybody in the class could recite it word-by-word now.

Speaking of her classmates, nobody else was paying attention either, not even the Class Rep who used this time as an unofficial self-study time. So the entire time was spent on chatting, talking, gossiping (sometimes using the school's net, sometimes not) or just goofing off. Among the conversations Rei heard Suzuhara happily telling Aida how his little sister was getting better, still pissed about not knowing who the pilot of EVA-01 is, and not being able to punch the him/her, who was responsible for his sister's condition.

But her mind was on other things.

Two weeks ago, when she was resting in her apartment after Operation Yashima, Yui came in and said to pack up, because she is moving out.

Normally, she will just say that her living conditions were acceptable and just stay there, (Katsuragi tried to convince her in the past, citing many logical reasons for why she should move and disadvantages in staying) and nothing short of Commander's order would move her.

Except this was Yui, a person who as of late was just as dear to her as was the Commander.

So after a ride later, they were celebrating their homecoming at the Katsuragi's apartment.

"Why did you moved here and not your place?" Misato asked during the celebrating.

"I didn't want Rei to move from the empty home just so that she would live in another empty home." Yui answered, referring to both her's (now a home to Section 2 agents watching after them) and Rei's Spartan apartments.

"Besides, you get to have a good cook who will pay for half of the bills." Yui finished.

And so it was settled.

The bell rang.

Just as everybody was packing up, the Porsche pulled up to the school's lot, catching Aida's attention who begun to blabber about Porsche history during the WWII.

A lot more attention was gained when a pair of fine legs appeared from the door, and when Yui was fully out of the car, the attention of the whole male portion of the school that had windows to the lot, much to the chagrin of girls.

She just stood there, ignoring the cat calls and looking at the windows, waving her hand to one student in particular.

To say that Rei's classmates were surprised that she smiled waved back a little was an understatement.

After looking back between Rei and Yui, many reached the only logical conclusion.

"Rei, is that your mom?" Aida asked.

Rei ignored the question and left the class to meet up with Yui.

* * *

In the car, Yui was checking things off.

"You do know where to buy food, just in case?" Yui asked.

"Yes."

"Do you know where the money is?"

"Yes."

"Do you know how to prepare instants at least?"

"Yes."

And so on.

Usually, as the time they spent together showed, they didn't talk much, preferring the comfortable silence and the close proximity of each other. Misato made the bet with Ritsuko that sooner or later she will catch them sleeping together (not in that way).

Also, this was the first time that Yui picked up Rei from school, thanks to the freed up schedule since it was deemed that Yui has progressed enough on her extensive training (from "total greenhorn" to "barely catching up to other pilots" to "adequate"), with Coach commenting that she has talent for piloting. Yui was grateful that the strange orange cat (despite it claiming otherwise) with Coach's voice had stopped bothering her in her dreams about training and proclaiming the might of hard work and guts.

Most of the free time was dedicated to repairing EVA-00.

It seems that Gendo, while unwilling to completely take her off from pilot duty in fear of her skills deteriorating, was also unwilling for her intellect go to waste, so she was assigned on the position in Project E that oversaw the maintenance, modifications, repair and research of EVAs.

Having the creator herself on the scene improved the performance of the staff when it came to EVAs, and the EVA-00 was getting repaired in record time.

Not enough to deploy it against Jet Alone when it gone berserk (which she and Misato though was a set-up on NERV's part, but Ritsuko wasn't talking), but still unusually quick.

But the reason for the current check-list talk was that Yui and Misato will be leaving for a while, by taking a helicopter to the UN's pacific fleet, currently on route to Japan with very important cargo: The Second Child and EVA-02.

Gendo ordered Misato and Yui to deliver the portable power source for EVA-02 and to check if everything is alright out there.

Misato objected, stating that leaving Tokyo-3 with only Rei as its defense is a dumb idea, but Gendo told her that it was certain that no Angel will attack the city for the duration of the trip.

Of course, for Yui his words meant: "According to the Dead Sea scrolls, an Angel will attack the fleet, make sure the Second Child and the EVA will make it alive, just in case."

Yui was already guessing why the Gaghiel will attack the fleet, when the true goal of angels was here at Tokyo-3 (as far as Angels knew), and it was certainly not to sabotage the war effort by taking down EVA-02.

She made sure to take a plugsuit in case she had to hijack the EVA.

She made a silent apology to Kyoko for that one.

And of course, it will be interesting to see how that smart, adorable girl grew up.

* * *

Some time later at the deck of Over The Rainbow.

The women stepped down from the helicopter, working out the kinks in their muscles, glad to be finally able to stand on their feet after hours of sitting during flight.

This resulted in cat calls from the crew on the deck, who hadn't seen some booty for some time (besides the jailbait, but that's beside the point).

Ignoring them, the duo started to walk over to the control tower to meet up with the Admiral.

"Hello Misato!"

Halfway they were met by a 14 years old redhead.

"Hello Asuka, you have grown since I last seen you." Misato greeted.

"And not only in height either." Asuka boasted.

'Yep, she is Kyoko's girl alright' though Yui.

"You haven't changed. Let me introduce you. Yui, this Asuka Langley Soryu. Asuka, this is Yui Ikari." Misato said.

Surprised at hearing the Commander's surname, Asuka bowed a little.

"Pleased to meet you." Asuka said.

"Same here." replied Yui with the little bow of her own.

After a moment, Asuka was getting annoyed.

"So?"

"So what?" Misato . asked

"Where the Third Child?" Asuka asked with impatience.

"Eh?" exclaimed both Yui and Misato.

"I was told that the famous Third Child will be arriving here, so where is she, or is he? All information was censored back in Germany." Asuka said with irritation in her voice.

Yui chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Asuka asked.

"The Third _Child_ is right before you." Yui answered.

Asuka looked dumbfounded for the moment, before she started glaring.

"That's not funny, everybody knows that only children born after Second Impact can become pilots." Asuka said with anger.

"Dammit, I've wasted my time!" said Asuka before storming off.

The duo stared after the retreating form.

* * *

After the unpleasant meeting with the Admiral, the more unpleasant meeting (for the certain Tactical Chief) with certain Ryouji Kaji, an and even more unpleasant cramped elevator ride (again for the certain T.C.), the party of four was sitting at the table in the mess hall, with Kaji and Asuka on one side and Yui and Misato on the other side.

After flirting with really pissed off Misato, Kaji turned his attention to Yui.

"So, I understand that you and the First Child are currently living with Misato here." He said.

"Yes, so?" Yui replied.

"Is she is still wild in bed?" Kaji asks.

Cue the shock for Misato and Asuka.

"Better than my ex-husband could ever be." Stated Yui, deciding to have some fun.

Cue more shock for Misato.

"Although, we really need to invest in sound-proof walls and door locks, Rei is probably still in shock from what she saw." Yui muttered.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" Misato shouts, slamming her hands on the table.

"Sorry." Yui whispers, putting her palm in classic 'Sorry' gesture.

Misato just gives her a look that promises punishment later.

Kaji chuckled.

"So she hasn't changed, Ikari-san" He said.

"Why I'm not surprised that you know my name?" Yui asked.

"Well, it's obvious. You're Ikari Yui, who was, and still, considered the most important person in old GEHIRN. Just point at something at NERV, and chances are that you are responsible for it one way or another. Not to mention that you are the genius behind the creation of Evangelions. Your work is simply invaluable."

Kaji paused for the moment.

"And of course, you are the Third Child, who piloted the EVA with the reputation of being unworkable, with no training whatsoever, with three angel on your belt." finished Kaji.

Asuka was silent for a while.

"You're joking, right?" she finally managed to say after a moment of silence.

"Nope." He answered.

* * *

After going their separate ways.

"So, what do you think about her?" Kaji asked, looking at Asuka who was pacing back and forth.

"How is it possible?" She asks in return.

When the 3rd Angel attacked, Asuka was pissed off that some green rookie had stolen her rightful place in the spotlight thanks to the EVA-01 massacring Sachiel on its own (she doesn't know yet that it was Yui that gone berserk, not EVA-01, it's top secret outside Tokyo-3) and then she was really pissed off that the rookie managed to defeat the 4th Angel on his/her own, further lowering her self-worth. And then the rookie got the 5th Angel together with the First Child.

And now that she is getting transferred to Tokyo-3, she planned that as soon as she got there, she would find the damn rookie and will make it absolutely clear that she with her EVA were on top of the food chain, superior, better and so on, perfectly capable of doing the job on her own and that he/she along with the First Child were just unnecessary extras.

She was happy when Kaji informed her that the Third Child will be coming along with the inspection and the power source. The sooner, the better.

All of that hit the snag, when she actually met (or rather confirmed for her) the Third "Child", the one and only Yui Ikari.

When she was a child and was a pilot candidate, her mother (before she went crazy) was often talking about Yui Ikari, the founder of GEHIRN, the genius behind the Evangelions, the woman who had both Fuyutsuki and Gendo, the smartest men in GEHIRN, around her finger, the women both kind and dangerous, and mother was sad when she found out that Yui quit.

Not surprising, since Kyoko was Yui's protégé, despite the latter being at least three years younger than the former.

Even before Asuka was introduced to her, she felt something special about the woman.

That, and she gave a feeling that being on her bad side was a worst thing that could happen to you.

That feeling was shattered by the seemingly bad joke about Yui being a Third Child.

Of course, now that she knew better, she was thinking on how to confront a woman that was better than her in almost single way with the exception of piloting, and even then she was rapidly improving.

"I don't know." answered Kaji, thinking it was about Yui being an adult capable of piloting the EVA.

Asuka just kept walking back and forth.

"Oh, by the way, she got a 53% synch-rate on her first try." He stated..

Asuka nearly tripped herself.

* * *

On the other side of the ship, on the escalator, Yui and Misato had a conversation.

"So, how will you handle the 'talk' with Rei" Misato said sarcastically.

"Come on Misato, I did say that I was sorry." Yui said with nervous chuckle.

Misato just continued to smile, eyebrow twitching.

"Anyhow, you seemed to know that young man." Yui changed subjects.

Misato sighted with annoyance.

"He is a good for nothing womanizer." She said.

"An ex-boyfriend?" Yui asked with amusement.

"None of your business!" Misato said loudly, her face red.

Of course, Yui suspected that there was more to him, with the way that he was always on guard, checking his surroundings, all while on the outside he looked like a care-free office worker.

Yui met people like this when she worked at GEHIRN, usually when some 'shady' business had to be taken for.

"Ikari-san!" shouted the familiar voice.

They looked up, seeing Asuka at the top of the escalator.

"Follow me." She said.

* * *

One boat ride later, at the EVA-02 holding cage.

Asuka pulled up the covers, revealing the EVA's head.

Yui just stared at it.

"Ain't it beautiful? Of course, being slicker is not the only difference between it and your's 01. 00 and 01 are prototype and test-type respectively, full of bugs and not suited for battle, though I'll admit that 01 is sturdy and can take a beating. But mine EVA is more than that, it is the masterpiece that took years of refinement, fine tuning, bugfixing, improvements and the result is this, the first combat-ready Evangelion, Production model EVA-02!" Asuka boasted and boasted, standing on EVA's head.

Asuka looked down, expecting a reaction.

Yui just continued to stare at it, an eyebrow beginning to twitch.

"E-Eh, Well, My EVA is superior in any case." Asuka said.

"There are no horns." Yui stated at last.

Asuka was dumbfounded.

"What horns?" She asked.

"Your mother showed me the blueprints for 02 before she died, it had two small horns on it." Yui answered.

Asuka stared at Yui as if she had grown her own horns on her head, before vaguely remembering from her early childhood that yes, 02 had horns.

"The R&D team probably just took them off. Honestly, what is a point for them anyway, do you have some kind of fetish for them?" Asuka asked.

Yui stayed silent for a while.

"Do you know the full specs for your EVA?" she asked.

"Yes, in fact, I can tell you everything right here and right now." Asuka stated, seeing the opportunity to make her look superior. And she was not lying about knowing everything about her EVA (what she could gather from the blueprints anyway).

"Do it." Yui said.

Some time later…

"So, did I convince you that my EVA is better?" Asuka asked after she finished talking (bragging} about EVA's stats, features and so on.

Yui stayed silent.

And then she snapped.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PIECE OF JUNK!?" She shouted.

Asuka wasn't expecting that.

"This is not EVA-02, it's a cheap knock-off!" Yui continued.

"Hey! Stop insulting my EVA just because you can't accept the fact that someone can build it better than you!" Asuka retorted.

"Better? Don't make me laugh. What I see is wasted potential." Yui said.

"What do you mean?" Asuka asked with irritation.

"Back in GEHIRN your mother showed me the designs of 02. It was the impressive piece of work there. While it lacked the sheer power of 01, it compensated for that with finesse. Once completed, it could rival my 01. But those specs you were bragging about? Everything you told me about the EVA, every part of it, is simply inferior to what Kyoko had in mind. I am disappointed, because what I see here is nothing more than a series of corner-cutting after corner-cutting, a pale shadow of what it could be."

Asuka scowled.

"You're just jealous. Besides, I've checked the history of development, and lots of things were cut because they were impossible to begin with!" She said.

"That's because whoever succeeded your mother was a amateur, because back in Geofront we just repaired and upgraded 00, using those 'impossible' designs. As it stands, 00 is currently better than 02, just like in those mecha shows." Yui said.

"That's nonsense!" Asuka said.

"Believe whatever you want. And you know what? As soon as we get to Tokyo-3, 02 will get a total overhaul." Yui said.

"Hey, don't you dare touch my EVA!" Asuka objected.

"I will turn this junk into the real, lean, mean killing machine whatever you like or not." Yui said.

Besides, Kyoko must be pretty pissed off being trapped in this mockery of her work. Right now, upgrading 02 is the best Yui could do for her protégé.

Further argument was cut off with the shaking of the ship.

Yui and Asuka ran outside.

They saw a shape in the water, ramming the escort ships.

"Heh, about time." Yui whispered.

"Chance." Asuka said with glee.

* * *

In the Entryplug.

Asuka, now in her red plugsuit, was activating the EVA in german, while Yui, in her own purple plugsuit ('precaution' was the answer that Asuka got) was standing behind the seat.

"You do know that having me there will screw up the sync-rate? Yui asked earlier, before they entered the plug.

"Heh, I'll show you that I will beat the Angel, even with the reduced synchronization." Asuka boasted.

Asuka finished activating, and the error screens appeared all over the plug.

"I warned you." Yui said

"You're thinking in Japanese, try thinking in German!" Asuka said, already thinking that she had to change the language setting.

The errors disappeared.

"Huh?"

"Where do you think I worked before?" Yui said in perfect German.

* * *

In the Entryplug, on the deck of Over The Rainbow.

They just killed the angel by showing two battleships into its mouth, and pumping lots of firepower down its throat.

They used the resulting explosion to get back on the Carrier. Where they promptly run out of power.

That wouldn't be too bad by itself, if the separate generator for plug control wasn't busted.

In short, Yui and Asuka were stuck. And there was no equipment on the whole fleet that could pry open the hatch (said equipment was at the bottom of the ocean with the ship that used to transport 02).

And so they passed time.

"You mean, the reason that you could pilot is that during pregnancy your baby left something that allowed you to become the pilot?" Asuka tried to confirm.

"Basically yes, I'm the one who came up with that theory." Yui said.

They stayed silent for a while.

"I still can't believe that we can't get out." Asuka says.

"Be thankful that the filters are still on, smelling like blood more than the usual is a last thing we need." Yui said.

"Why does it smell like blood anyway?" Asuka asks, remembering the first time she was submerged in LCL all those years ago. The smell of blood nearly made her vomit back then, but she got used to it in following years, almost forgetting how it smelled until now.

"Simple, it smells like blood because it is blood." Yui answered.

"You expect me to believe that?" Asuka said.

"Yes, we got a god nailed downed in our basement and we make it bleed, and then we use the blood to make LCL." Yui said as if she joking.

If only.

"That was not funny. Oh, and let's make this clear: You're not touching my EVA." Asuka said.

"Sorry, as the one responsible for the functionality of all EVAs and your legal guardian, I'll make sure that this junk will the get polish it deserves." Yui stated.

Asuka was about to retort, except…

"Wait a minute, since when you are my guardian?' She asks.

"If I remember correctly, one month after you were born." Yui answeres.

"Eh?"

"Meaning, I'm your Godmother."

The scream of 'WHAT!?` was heard all over the fleet.


End file.
